WORLD CLASS ACADEMIC
ACHIEVEMENT
REQUIRES THE DEVELOPMENTAL STUDY OF MUSIC
–excerpts from an article by James R. Ponter,
Voice magazine, October 2001.
In most
American public schools, music is treated as an “activity” on the periphery of
the curriculum, taking a back seat to the “serious” subjects required to educate
our youth. Music should be considered as fundamental to the curriculum as
reading and mathematics. Nations whose students consistently outperform
American students in tests assessing science and mathematics achievement are the
same countries where music is treated as a serious academic requirement.
Test results cited in the 1983 report, A Nation
at Risk, showed the United States losing out badly to other countries in
mathematics and science (A Nation at Risk). A 1988 test of the
International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement showed
us ranking 14th among 17
countries on an instrument testing the performance of eighth and ninth grade
students in science achievement. Our students’ scores were similar to those of
Thailand and Singapore, while trailing far behind Poland, Italy, Korea,
English-speaking Canada and every other participating country with the exception
of the Philippines and Hong Kong (IAEEA).
This report was one of the catalysts for many reform
efforts of the ’80s and ’90s. In New Jersey, these reforms included the
Governor’s State Wide Systemic Initiative, Core Course Proficiencies, the Core
Curriculum Content Standards and The Academy for the Improvement of Teaching.
These actions were accompanied by a flurry of legislative initiatives aimed at
tightening the requirements for obtaining and retaining teaching and
administrative certifications. Similar measures along with controversial
high-stakes testing protocols have been adopted or are being considered by most
states.
One of the most neglected reforms has been a serious
examination of the influence of the arts on academic achievement, particularly
upon achievement in mathematics and science. The top performing students on the
1988 IAEEA test were the eighth and ninth graders from Hungary followed by those
from the Netherlands and Japan.
In conjunction with recent work in cognitive
psychology regarding the relationship between music and academic achievement, it
is enlightening to examine the status of music in the curricula of countries
whose students consistently demonstrate higher achievement than American
students in math and science.
Although we do not expect all of our students to
become novelists, poets, or screenwriters, we assume that, sans organic brain
dysfunction, all of our students will learn to read and compute given the proper
instruction. High achieving nations assume that, while not everyone will become
a gifted composer or virtuoso, everyone can become a proficient community
orchestra player or chorale singer given the proper developmental music
education. Students from these countries also accrue the cognitive and cultural
benefits of music study.
Making the right choices
We are constantly advising our children to make good
choices. What we do as leaders in our schools must be directly related to the
practice of teaching and learning. Decisions we make and policies we implement
must take into account what the cognitive sciences have learned within the last
five to 10 years about the brain and how we learn. Many of these studies deal
directly with the relationship between music and cognition.
If our goal as policy makers is to maximize human
potential, the brain research offers help in making very practical decisions.
For example, in a time of fiscal restraint, would students and their tax-paying
parents be best served by a $2000 computer requiring specialized facilities,
expensive maintenance, and be obsolete within five years, or a $300 student
grade violin usable anywhere and based upon technology essentially unchanged in
400 years?
Food for thought
Albert Einstein had great difficulty learning within
a traditional academic environment. He was also an avid amateur violinist always
traveling with his fiddle and contacting musicians wherever he might be
speaking, spending many of his happiest times basking in the musical
companionship of many of the worlds greatest musician. Cited in conversation
with Shinichi Suzuki, a friend and developer of the world renowned Suzuki Method
for violin instruction, discussing the development of Special Relativity,
Einstein said, “It occurred to me by intuition and music was the driving force
behind that intuition. My discovery was the result of musical perception (Fryer,
1989).”
James R. Ponter is
Supervisor for Sciences and Music for the Gateway High School District, Woodbury
Heights, NJ. He holds master’s degrees in school administration and secondary
science teaching, and a bachelor’s degree in biological sciences. He also plays
cello in the Philharmonic of Southern New Jersey.
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